THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE. 



127 



being diverted from the line of direction by some curious and 

 perhaps incredulous experimenter, it slowly but surely returned, 

 remaining fixed and constant through storm and calm, at mid- 

 night and at noon. What would be more interesting than the 

 speculations of such a captain upon the cause of the marvellous 

 dispensation ? And what more amusing than the commentaries 



SHIP OF b OL' li i ii-hA I H 1 L KIT. 



of the forecastle, and the learned explanations of the veteran 

 salts to the raw recruits ? But all this absorbing lore has hope- 

 lessly disappeared, and the mariner's compass will forever remain 

 mysterious in its principle, mysterious in its origin, mysterious 

 in its history. We shall have occasion to return to the subject 

 from another point of view, when, in describing the Arctic 

 voyages of the present century, we shall find James Clarke Ross 

 standing upon the North Magnetic Pole. 



